What on earth possessed me to apply for a place in the 2014 London Marathon I have no idea! I can’t even blame it on temporary alcohol induced madness as I know I definitely completed the form on a Saturday morning earlier this year, and even I haven’t started hitting the cooking sherry that early in the day! Then again I do also remember blithely thinking ‘oh well, I will never get a place anyway, so many people apply’ just before I pressed the send button!

 

You see, I’m not a runner. I don’t run, I would even go so far as to say I hate running! I get all red in the face, sweaty (yep, I sweat; sadly I am not one of those lucky ladies who simply glow after exercise!) and I gasp for breath like my windpipe had been disconnected from my lungs. It’s not pretty! And that’s just after I’ve done 100 yards….

 

There is also the small detail of age. I’m no spring chicken. In fact to be honest I am probably well past the broiler stage by now. It’s only 3 years until I celebrate the 29 anniversary of my 21 birthday You work it out – but let’s just say I’m fast approaching the stage in life where I should be considering ‘milestone birthday’ therapy!

 

Well, to my absolute horror I did get a place. And now I have paid my registration fee so my fate is sealed…. now I have to fulfil my promise to the British Heart Foundation and run 26 miles on an early spring day next year, with the goal of raising funds for the vital work that they do. And hopefully manage to complete it before the sweep team come round to clear the course! It would just be so embarrassing to be overtaken by the midnight street cart cleaners!

 

Did you know   coronary heart disease remains the UK’s single biggest killer? That there are around 60,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the UK every year? That when someone goes into cardiac arrest, every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces their chances of survival by 10 per cent?

 

I am a volunteer for the Heart Start programme currently running in Staffordshire – I am also a West Midland Ambulance Service Community First Responder with Mayfield and Ellastone group. We are currently offering a free two hour course covering basic first aid, CPR and how to help someone who may have had a heart attack.

 

My aim is to raise over £2,000 for BHF but also to increase awareness in the local area of heart disease and prevention, the vital role of CFRs in helping people who have had heart attacks (as well as attending other medical problems), the need for Public Access Defibrillator machines and why everyone from as young as 10 should learn the basic first aid skills needed to save a life!

 

The BHF supports all of the above and does so much more that it really needs every penny it can raise.

 

Anyway. That’s the serious side of what I am doing. But I also hope my blog will be lighthearted, honest and maybe even just a little bit interesting for anyone who thinks they might well have their own little midlife crisis soon and feels motivated to do something equally, totally, ridiculously challenging themselves!!

 

If you see me running round town please feel free to encourage me. You’ll easily recognise me –I’ll be the red faced, dripping with sweat, heavy breathing lady leaning on the nearest lamp-post to recover! You might even like to sponsor me – every £1 donated helps me get to my £2,000 goal quicker, and every penny goes towards the fantastic work BHF does.